Author: Luming Wang

New Unfair Contract Term Regime – More Protection for Small Businesses

Posted by Luming Wang on

In this post we will talk about the new Unfair Contract Regime (Regime), which came into effect in November 2016 in accordance with the Treasury Legislation Amendment (Small Business and Unfair Contract Terms) Act 2015. The purpose of the Regime was to protect small businesses from being exploited by their mega counterparty, which previously is only afforded to individual consumers.

Unfair Contract Void

Under the new regime, a consumer contract or small business contract (including contract for financial services) is void if:

  • The term is unfair; and
  • The contract is a standard form contract.

What is a small business contract?

A contract is a small business contract if:

  • The contract is for a supply of goods or services, or a sale or grant of an interest in land; and
  • At the time the contract is entered into, at least one party to the contract is a business that employs fewer than 20 persons; and
  • Either of the following applies:
  • The upfront price payable under the contract does not exceed $300,000;
  • The contract has a duration of more than 12 months and the upfront price payable under the contract does not exceed $1,000,000.00.

Continue reading “New Unfair Contract Term Regime – More Protection for Small Businesses” →

GST Savings for Overseas Businesses

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From 1 October 2016, new amendments have been made in relation to the GST Act to exclude some of the services provided in business-to-business (B2B) context from GST liabilities. In order to be exempted, the services provided will have to:

  1. Be supplied to a “non-resident”; and
  2. Who is not in the indirect tax zone when the supply is made; and
  3. The supply is neither a supply of work physically performed on goods situated in Australia or “directly connected with” real property in Australia; or
  4. The non-resident acquires the services in carrying on the non-resident’s enterprise, but is not registered or required to be registered for GST.

Continue reading “GST Savings for Overseas Businesses” →

VOI is Coming, Better be Prepared

Posted by Luming Wang on

Verification of Identity Rules

With the increasing popularity of e-Conveyancing, safety of transactions become a top priority to ensure that clients’ title and funds are not compromised, whilst enjoying the expediencies.

From 1 August 2016, all law firms and solicitors participating in e-Conveyance will need to verify their client’s identity according to the procedure set out in the Participation Rules of e-Conveyancing. However, if you think that the requirement only applies to e-Conveyancing, you might be at risks of not carrying out your Verification of Identity (“VOI”) obligations. Continue reading “VOI is Coming, Better be Prepared” →

New Stamp Duty Raise for Foreign Purchasers in NSW

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State treasurer Gladys Berejiklian has made an announcement to raise an additional 4% stamp duty surcharge from foreign investors for NSW residential property starting from 21 June 2016. An additional 0.75 land tax surcharge will also be raised from 2017.

It is said that the stamp duty surcharge and the land tax surcharge will raise more than $1 billion in revenue over four years. And would help to fund $1.8 billion in business tax cuts announced on Tuesday. Continue reading “New Stamp Duty Raise for Foreign Purchasers in NSW” →

Foreign Owned Property CGT Withholding Tax

Posted by Luming Wang on

On 25 February 2016, new legislation has been passed on CGT proposing to introduce a new withholding tax regime targeting foreign property owners commencing 1 July 2016.
The new regime requires the purchaser to pay a 10% non-final withholding tax to the ATO directly if the vendor is a foreign resident, unless the transaction is an excluded transaction.

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